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Chicago Symphony Orchestra

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenure in 2010.

Orchestra Hall, now a component of the Symphony Center complex, was designed by Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham and completed in 1904. Maestro Thomas served as music director for thirteen years until his death shortly after the orchestra's newly built residence was dedicated December 14, 1904. The orchestra was renamed "Theodore Thomas Orchestra" in 1905 and today, Orchestra Hall still has "Theodore Thomas Orchestra Hall" inscribed in its façade.

Symphony No. 2 (Barber)

Symphony No. 2, op. 19 is a three-movement work for orchestra by American composer Samuel Barber. The 25-minute work was originally written in 1944. The work underwent many revisions and was finally published in 1950. The original manuscript was withdrawn by Barber in 1964. He ordered that G. Schirmer destroy the original manuscript and all scores in their library. The work remained unpublished for many years until 1984 when a set of parts turned up in a warehouse in England. Renewed interest in Barber's work led to a 1990 reprint of the 1950 edition.

History

Composition

Samuel Barber began his composition career at the age of seven. He was accepted in the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music at age 14. He received critical acclaim for his early compositions including The School for Scandal and Adagio for Strings. His early success led to a commission from the United States Air Force in 1943 to write a "symphonic work about flyers". The request came soon after he joined the United States Army in 1942. Barber spent time at a U.S. Air Force base so that he could take part in flight training and battle simulations. He was given four months to write the piece with the understanding that the army would receive all of the royalties forever.

Symphony No. 2 (Lutosławski)

The Symphony No. 2 by the Polish composer Witold Lutosławski is an orchestral composition in two movements written between 1965 and 1967. The work exhibits Lutosławski's technique of "limited aleatoricism", where the individual instrumental parts are notated exactly, but their precise co-ordination is organised using controlled elements of chance.

Personal and musical transitions

Lutosławski wrote his Symphony No. 2 between 1965 and 1967. The preceding years had been a time of transition for him and for Poland. The Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin had seized control of the country in the aftermath of World War II, and the iron-fisted cultural dictation of the Communist government severely limited both the output of Polish composers and their exposure to musical developments in the outside world between the 1949 and 1954. Many pieces, including Lutosławski's first symphony, were condemned as formalist (focused on esoteric considerations of form rather than on speaking directly to the proletariat) and banned from public performance. In 1956 the Poles took advantage of Stalin's death to reform their government. The national ruling communist ideology became more liberal, especially regarding the arts.

This is one of Simpson's most accessible works. He used similar orchestration to that used by Ludwig van Beethoven in his early symphonies, with the exception of high D trumpets being used instead of the standard B flat trumpets.

The work is in three movements:

I Allegro grazioso

II Largo cantabile

III Non troppo allegro, ma con brio

The first movement opens with mysterious muted string lines in simple triple time which gracefully develops in a similar way to classical form. The tonal conflict in this Symphony centers on B and the tonalities a major third above and below it (G and E-flat).

The second movement is remarkable in the way that it is a palindrome (the same backwards as forwards) if one removes the last few bars. In all there are thirteen variations on the viola theme which opens the movement, and many of the motives within the movement are palindromic to ensure formal cohesion.

Chicago (Michael Jackson song)

"Chicago" is a song by American recording artist Michael Jackson. The song was originally recorded during the Invincible recording sessions under the name "She Was Lovin' Me". A reworked version of the song was included in Jackson's posthumous album Xscape.

It was first revealed that "Chicago" would be the first release from the Xscape album. However, plans changed and "Love Never Felt So Good" became the debut release instead.

See also

References

Chicago station (CTA Red Line)

Chicago (also Chicago/State in station announcements) is a rapid transit station on the Red Line of the Chicago 'L'. It serves a significant portion of the Near North Side and Streeterville neighborhoods. With 5,259,992 overall boardings in 2014, it is the busiest station on the Red Line north of the Loop.